The Aquarium
by LordByronMudkippington
Summary: Kotori and her friends thought it'd be fun to hang out at the aquarium. Well, it was, but not quite how Kotori expected. (I originally wrote this May 18th, but hadn't bothered to post it here until today.) [Artwork by Feledia.]


Kotori had always loved birds. She thought they were very majestic, and oftentimes she wished that she had wings so that she could fly with them. That wasn't originally supposed to mean anything: after all, when one went to the aquarium with their friends, birds were not the first thing that came to mind. Of course, things easily changed, and things changed very quickly once the birds appeared.

As they went deeper into the aquarium, Kotori noticed a small crowd gathered around one of the tanks. Curious, she made her way over to see what had captured all this attention. As soon as she laid eyes on what was going on, she had to place a hand over her mouth to hold back her squeals of delight: penguins!

"Kotori-chan, what's going- Oh." Her two friends, Nozomi and Hanayo, caught up to find a familiar sight: their friend enraptured by the sight of adorable birds. "Should've guessed." Nozomi laughed softly, bouncing up and down on her toes as she observed the penguins. "You're gonna make us stay here for awhile, aren't you?"

"What? No," Kotori protested, glancing between her friends and the penguins guiltily. "Maybe four, or five... hours." They chuckled knowingly, but they both stayed next to her, watching the cute little birds play around for a few more minutes. As the clock struck noon, however, someone came out of the door to the enclosure, and for once, her attentions were torn away from birds.

The woman who walked out of the enclosure was, to put it simply, gorgeous. Her long, navy-blue hair was tied into a ponytail, with intense brown eyes looking over the crowd before a smile formed on her face and she clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention. She'd already had Kotori's attention the moment she stepped out among mere mortals.

"Alright everyone, it's feeding time for our feathered friends. I've been given permission to allow three of you to help me today, so would anyone like to assist me?" Immediately a few hands were raised. Kotori, still trying to get her brain to understand anything but 'hot woman working with cute penguins', stood motionless. That is, until another force began enacting on her, causing her to nearly fall over as she stumbled forward through the crowd.

"H-Hey!" Kotori looked over her shoulder to find Nozomi's hands on her back, giving her a big grin as they broke through the crowd and stood right in front of the blue-haired woman. She looked at them with a curious stare, re-freezing Kotori right on the spot. "A-Ah..." Dammit Nozomi.

"Ma'am, my friend would love to feed the penguins." Dropping her voice to a whisper, Nozomi leaned in and murmured, "She's just shy." Kotori felt her face heat up, wordlessly trying to make Nozomi cease her embarrassing talk. The woman, whose name tag was now close enough to see clearly - Sonoda Umi - gave the two of them a curious look, then the smile came back as she nodded.

"Sounds good. Anyone else?" The hands returned to the air as Kotori's jaw dropped, trying her best to ignore the knowing giggles coming from her mischievous friend. Two others were picked from the crowd and they moved to the front, following Umi into the enclosure. Kotori looked at Nozomi nervously, but she just gave Kotori a wink and a thumbs up, pushing her forward. Biting back a yelp, she gulped and followed after them.

It was a lot colder in the enclosure than it was outside, and Kotori found herself rubbing her arms in a vain attempt to bring warmth to her body. Still, she couldn't back out now, so she continued on behind the group, unable to take her eyes off of that luxuriously long navy-blue hair. Not even the penguins could take her attention away, which was a very new development. What was it about this woman?

"Excuse me, miss?" Urk! Suddenly, she realized that Umi wasn't standing where she used to be. In fact, she was now next to Kotori, who almost fell right into the penguins' pool when she realized this fact. "Are you alright? You seem rather cold."

"Wh-Who, me?" Kotori stuttered out, knowing that her cheeks were getting redder by the second. "I-I'm okay!" Umi didn't seem to believe her, and without another word she began to pull off her jacket. "Wh-What are you-"

"Turn around, if you please." Kotori immediately did it without question, feeling a bit more weight on her shoulders, realizing that Umi had put her jacket on her.

"M-Ma'am?"

"You seemed cold. I hope this will help." Umi's smile caught her off guard, and Kotori found herself speechless as Umi went towards the penguins, ready to show the group how to feed them. It took a great force of willpower to make her legs start moving towards them, hoping that her blush wasn't too visible, because it honestly felt like she had heated up enough to melt the ice.

Next to Umi's feet was a bucket of fish, and she reached down to pick it up, handing it to the closest person. "Mind holding this?" They did so wordlessly as Umi took a fish from the bucket and kneeled down, holding it in her open palm like an offering. Immediately a penguin waddled over, happily taking the fish from her palm and wolfing it down.

They watched as she fed a few more penguins, the audience outside the glass murmuring appreciatively. Kotori spared a glance outside, and quickly caught the eyes of her friends. Hanayo gave her a shy but encouraging wave, while Nozomi was mouthing something that, while Kotori had an idea of what it was, tried to pretend she was clueless. She was still forced to look back before it started up her blushing again, which she was working so hard to control.

When she looked back, she realized that once again Umi had escaped her sight. Blinking in confusion, the sound of a nearby squawking got her attention. This time she kept herself from nearly falling over, but she was still surprised to find Umi standing there, a smile on her face and a penguin cradled in her arms. "Would you like to hold him?"

"H-Huh?" Yet another question caught her off guard, causing her to adopt the familiar facial expression of a confused bird. Would she like to what? Hold Umi? Yeah, yes, extremely.

"Would you like to hold Takashi?" Oh, the penguin. Though she had noticed his existence, Kotori only now realized that he was there, squawking at her. She had never been this out of sorts before. The offer to hold the penguin finally took hold in her mind, and without a word she nodded, extending her arms out and hoping they weren't shaking.

As soon as Takashi was in her arms, her attention was finally back on the birds, a big smile breaking out on her face as she carefully held the penguin. He was adorable and fit perfectly in her arms. She cooed softly at the penguin, and he squawked right back until a fish was held in front of his face, which he took eagerly.

"He really seems to like you." Kotori turned to find Umi smiling at her, having just given Takashi his meal.

"He's really cute." She smiled back, feeling more at ease with a penguin in her arms, just like anyone would. While she continued to hold the penguin, Umi went back to discussing proper feeding techniques and pointing out the names of some of the penguins and where they had originally come from. Throughout the entire dialogue, Kotori was positive that Umi was sneaking glances at her.

Maybe she was only checking on the safety and well-being of the penguin, but a part of Kotori's mind was convinced that those eyes were looking at her. Sure, it might very well be false hope, but she liked the warm feeling it brought to her heart, and she didn't want to squash her hopes quite yet. Reality would do that for her just fine.

All too soon Umi came over to take Takashi back, which Kotori complied with, although with a touch of reluctance. The other two who had joined her in feeding the penguins were filing out, and most of the people who had been watching from outside were also leaving. "Did you enjoy your time here?" She hadn't expected Umi to converse with her again, so once more she found herself caught off guard.

"H-Huh? O-Oh, yes, very much so." Somehow, through her embarrassing stuttering, she remembered the fact that she was still borrowing Umi's jacket. "O-Oh! Your jacket." She wriggled out of it and handed it back to Umi, who took it with a gentle smile.

"Thank you." Kotori tried to get her feet to move so she could get out of there before her dignity meter fell into the negatives, but she was stopped once more by Umi's voice. "Make sure to stop by the gift shop before you leave!"

"O-Okay?" The gift shop? Why?

* * *

"You really blended in with the environment, Kotori-chan. You looked exactly like a frozen bird." Nozomi laughed as Kotori groaned and hid her face in her hands, burning with embarrassment. The moment she had returned to her friends, Nozomi had begun teasing her, which only heightened her shame. Why couldn't the glass have been tinted?

"It's okay, Kotori-chan. It wasn't that bad." Hanayo patted her sympathetically on the shoulder, but Kotori knew that it _was_ as bad as she imagined it to be. That was so unlike her, though: where had her dignity gone? Apparently out the window, along with her mind the moment she saw Umi. It wasn't fair for someone to be that hot.

As the exit came into view, something clicked in Kotori's mind: the gift shop. Making a hard left, she practically raced into the shop, though for what explicit purpose she wasn't sure. She was only here because Umi had told her to, but with no expressed reason for it. Maybe she was just supposed to spend money? Hey, money can't buy you love, but it couldn't hurt, right?

Her entrance into the gift shop apparently attracted attention, and she hadn't taken more than a few steps inside before the blonde working at the register came over, a large plush penguin in her hands. "You're Kotori, right?"

"Yes?" How did they know her name, and what was with the penguin? Nozomi and Hanayo caught up to her as the blonde smiled and offered the penguin to Kotori. "What's this?"

"It's a penguin." She laughed and pushed it insistently into Kotori's arms, which she had to grab before it fell to the ground. "Umi would be really happy if you took it."

"U-Umi?" So that's why she wanted Kotori to go to the gift shop. Automatically her grip tightened on the penguin, something that did not go unnoticed by the three others around her. "W-Well, tell her I said thank you."

"You can tell her yourself." Pointing at the penguin, Eli turned around and walked back to the register, leaving Kotori staring after her in utter confusion. At least, she was until she looked down at the penguin again and noticed a piece of paper taped to its belly. Moving the stuffed bird around to get a better look, she nearly dropped it when she recognized the familiar pattern of a phone number.

"Oh my..." Was now too early to call?

* * *

"You're such a romantic sap, Umi." Eli smirked as she and Umi walked out of the aquarium, Umi giving her a small smile in return.

"I hope she appreciated the gesture."

"Or you could've just, you know, asked her out."

"I-I couldn't do that!" Umi paled at the thought, which earned her an eye roll from Eli.

"Jeez, you're hopeless, Umi." Sighing, Eli playfully shoved Umi's shoulder. "How do you even know that she'll call you?"

"I just have a feeling." There was a knowing smile on Umi's face, a smile that slowly began to falter the longer the silence dragged on. "She... will, won't she? Eli, is she going to call?"

"You were the one who said she would!"

"Oh Gods, she's not going to call!"

"Umi! Calm down!" Forcing their feet to a stop, Eli grabbed Umi's shoulders and squeezed them firmly. "She's gonna call, alright? Don't worry so much." Despite those reassuring words, Umi still seemed unsure.

"How do you know?" A ringing sound drew their attention towards Umi's pocket where, with widening eyes, she pulled out her vibrating phone. Eli couldn't hide the huge smirk on her face.

"Oh, just a hunch."

"Are you psychic?!"


End file.
